S/PV.2059 Security Council

In accordance with the decision taken by the Council at its 2058th meeting, I invite the representatives of Sweden and Uganda to take the seats reserved for them at the side of the Council chamber. At the invitation of the President, Mr. Runborg (Sweden) and Mr. Mwangaguhunga (Uganda) took the places reserved for them at the side of the Council chamber.

Members of the Council have before them the texts of two draft resolutions sponsored by Gabon, Mauritius and Nigeria and contained in documents S/12547 and S/12548. 3. The first speaker is Mr. Johnnie Makatini, to whom the Council extended an invitation at its 2056th meeting. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement. 4. Mr. MAKATINI: Mr. President, we congratulate you most heartily on your assumption of the presidency during the month that marks the beginning of the International Anti-Apartheid Year. That this Council meeting takes place under your guidance is of great importance to the Organization, for it was in your brotherly country, Nigeria, and under the chairmanship of Mr. Joseph Garba, the Commissioner for External Affairs, that the international community took far-reaching decisions to further the advancement of the struggle against apartheid. To ensure the necessary follow-up and endorsement by the General Assembly of those decisions designed to complement the efforts of our people, whose struggle has entered a decisive and irreversible stage, the Commissioner for External Affairs joined us here in New York to present those decisions to the General Assembly. 5. This was not the first proof of your country’s resolve to play an active role in the struggle for the total and real independence of our continent. This commitment was eloquently proved in 1975 by Nigeria’s act of solidarity with the People’s Republic of Angola when, acting in concert with other nations that love justice and freedom, Nigeria helped the Angolan people under the leadership of the Movimento Popular de Liberta@o de Angola to stave off apartheid expansionism. It is because of this brilliant record that, despite the highly orchestrated imperialist campaign, whose objective is now crystal clear, we remain convinced that Nigeria’s muscle will always be harnessed to advance the African objectives in the whole of southern Africa. And it is for that reason that we are confident that, under your guidance, the Council’s deliberations will be crowned with success in the form of decisions whose effect will be to further the isolation of the Pretoria regime and to strengthen the striking power of the liberation movement. 6. The African National Congress (ANC) attaches a great deal of importance to the resolutions and decisions adopted by the General Assembly at its thirty-second session. The list also includes those draft resolutions vetoed by three permanent members of the Security Council as well as those unanimously adopted by the Council. Throughout the long history of our struggle, we have never been so confident of our victory. We have reached a stage that is characterized by the irreversible and ever-growing militancy and determination of our people to confront the apartheid monster gun in hand and not to betray the active solidarity that progressive mankind the world over is increasingly lending us in support of our just struggle. 7. It is now common knowledge to all who follow the South African situation closely that Umkonto We Sizwe, 8. The worsening economic crisis resulting from spiralling inflation and unprecedented white unemployment operates in favour of the revolutionary situation obtaining in our country. 9. What of the awareness and unity of purpose at the mass level? ANC is indeed proud of what it owes to its founding fathers; of what it has nurtured and consolidated throughout its long and problem-ridden history: that noble idea and objective of serving as a spearhead of a broad united front, today emerging as the powerful and invincible force at the service of our revolution. This will no doubt guide our people at this crucial period when they have reached the crossroads, as Gatsha Buthelezi said in The New York Times of ,yesterday, 10. The position taken by the so-called Asian and Coloured communities, rejecting the rCgime’s diabolic scheme of separate parliaments aimed against ANC strategy based on a broad united front of all blacks as well as white democrats, clearly demonstrates the level of awareness of our people and their determination to close ranks and di&t their combined striking power against the common enemy. They do so mindful of ANC’s steadily growing influence and strength inside and outside South Africa. What is more, they are aware of ANC’s fortitude and Principles on the basis of the Freedom Charter which sets out the guidelines for a democratic State based on the will of all the people, and one that will secure to all their birthright, without distinction as to colour, race, sex or belief. 11 a All that, as well as the contradictions emerging in the bantustans like the Transkei, constitutes the scenario we find in the wake of the racist general elections at which the 13. In considering the appeal we are making, it is important to recall that, according to United Nations statistics published in the mid-1960s, South Africa was then responsible for 47 per cent of world executions. The abundant evidence of frame-ups and the coercion of witnesses clearly shows how determined the racist police and prosecutors are to hang all the freedom fighters who are facing trials. The revelations at Steve Biko’s inquest serve as sufficient proof of what should be expected. 14. I turn now to the Pretoria trial. At the end of September 1977, the r&me closed its case against 11 men and one woman accused of ANC organization and sabotage activities. The accused are: Mosima Gabriel Sexwale, 24 years; Naledi Tsiki, 21 years; Lele Jacob Motaung, 44 years; Simon Samuel Mohlanyaneng, 23 years; Elias Tieno Masinga, 24 years; Martin Mafefo Ramokgadi, 67 years: Joe Nzingo Ggabi, 48 years, whose 12.year imprisonment oln Robben Island had recently terminated; Petrus Mampogoane Nchabeleng, 50 years; Nelson Letsaba Diale, 41 years; Michael Mpandeni Ngubeni, 42 years; Jacob Seatlholo, 47 years; Paulina Mamagotla Mohale, 26 years. 15. Widely described as the most important political trial since Rivonia in 1964, it has been dubbed “the main machinery trial”. Some of the accused are alleged to have been part of the central underground structure of ANC at Johannesburg. After five days of giving evidence, Ian Rwaxa, the chief State witness, said he had been repeatedly assaulted by the security police while in detention before making a statement and that he had given untrue evidence to the court. He said he had been beaten and kicked until he bled from his nose and mouth, and that an attempt had been made to strangle him with a cloth. During that assaullt he had lost consciousness twice and, on recovery, had been threatened with death unless he co-operated. He had been shown Mosima Sexwale, one of the accused, lying naked, bound and shivering, in another cell; and had himself been forced to sleep naked, without blankets. He told the court of further assaults by the police and of seeing another osf the accused, Lele Motaung, who could not sit because of Pain in his buttocks. All this can be found in the Rang Daily Mail of 1 July 1977. Eventually he made a statement: “I wrote what the lieutenant told me to w&e”-he told the court. And when he asked the judge to make an order Protecting him from the police, the latter said he had no powers to do that. 17. We could go on and on for hours, giving more and more astounding facts concerning this and dozens of other trials. Suffice it to say that the same thing happened at the trial of the Pietermaritzburg 10, who were sentenced on 25 July 1977 to terms ranging from seven years to life imprisonment, having been found guilty of charges related to the establishment of an escape route for ANC recruits to leave the country, the recruiting of 43 persons for military training abroad, and communication with the ANC exiles. 18. By and large, the same goes for the Springs six, reported as being apparently ANC supporters and charged with offences arising from sabotage incidents and the explosion of a “bomb factory” in a Soweto house, the indictment alleging the discovery of a machine pistol, 10 blocks of TNT, 40 kilograms of explosives, plus hand grenades and bullets, and an ANC publication. 19. The list of such trials of ANC groups and individuals is very long. These gallant freedom fighters, who look to the Security Council for support, can be saved from hanging only by prompt action by the Council. They are waging a just struggle which has been endorsed as legitimate. They are held by a criminal r&me and face execution for their part in spearheading the struggle which the Council has declared the special responsibility of the United Nations. We plead for a resolution demanding their immediate and unconditional release. And part of the action during this International Anti-Apartheid Year should take the form of campaigning for according prisoner-of-war status to the captured freedom fighters, whilst the r8gime’s officials, emissaries, supporters and apologists should, in our view, be declared and treated as war criminals. 20. In considering the action to take in the face of these brutalities, the Council should take into account the fact that, whereas violence against the black population has always been part of the South African way of life, the orgy of violence now going on in the prison cells is unprecedented, Hundreds of political suspects are systematically and savagely tortured. And although physical assaults remain part of the interrogators’ arsenal, long periods of solitary confinement, deprivation of food and sleep and various combinations of physical and psychological torture have become prevalent. Detainees are kept in dark cells for months, in total isolation and at the mercy of the Security Branch. At times they are questioned continuously for several days, denied any rest, threatened with death, forced to do exhausting exercises, to stand on bricks or crouch on imaginary chairs, until mind and body become too tired to distinguish between illusion and reality. And, of course, nobody has the right of access to detainees or to information, even confirmation of detention. People just disappear. Such provisions are described by one official, Brigadier J. J. Swanepoel, as a “mighty weapon”. Van den Bergh, the head of BOSS, the Bureau of State Security-a co-detainee 21. On the statement delivered before the Council by Mr. Donald Woods we have so much to say, but we prefer to say little because we would have wished a dialogue with Mr. Woods. 22. Perhaps it was naive of us to have looked forward to Mr. Woods’ using the opportunity denied to our movement by the rCgime to endorse publicly and convey in clear and unambiguous terms to the South African public the position of the United Nations, which is committed to the rEgime’s total isolation and support of the liberation movement for the overthrow of aparfhcid and the seizure of power by the people. Instead, Mr. Woods spoke of his plea to present the real case for the real South Africainsinuating, in a way, that what has been going on all these years has not been the presentation of the real case for the real South Africa, the role played by the Iiberation movement and other forces, all of you here included. 23. I choose to say little because one risks misinterpreting Mr. Woods to the point of seeing his so-called real case of moral force as aimed at negating the position of the United Nations against apartheid. 24. In regard to what Mr. Woods says about the moral force to bring change, we wish to point out that ANC cannot be faulted in the use of passive resistance. It gives Erst place to no one but itself in the pursuit of this method of struggle, which indeed it pursued up to 1960. It was in the face of Fascist violence that ANC, which had opted for this form of struggle as a tactic, came to the painful decision to close this chapter. Mr. Woods would do well to recall the role played by Chief Albert Luthuli-a role so important that he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Woods will recall also that the launching of Umkonto We Sizwethe Spear of the Nation-on 16 December I961 was the result of a unanimous decision by the ANC leadership, including Luthuli, who had arrived back in South Africa on 15 December, following the 12 December Nobel award ceremony at Oslo. The following day South Africa vibrated under the explosion of bombs. That was the ANC reply to the international community: that the decision it had taken was irreversible. 25. ANC is at ease in pointing out some of these reservations concerning the role of Mr. Woods because he is one of many white democrats who have found a political home under the umbrella of the liberation movement at large. But we do not understand some of his positions. 26. On the question of the draft resolutions before the Council our position is well known. On arriving in New York, we were expecting that the Council would be presented with a case that conformed with the expectations of the international community and the struggling people of South Africa, that is, that one draft resolution on the oil embargo against the Pretoria regime and one on economic sanctions under Chapter VII of the Charter would be presented and considered. 28. klKtdl~Xkd its this t1light sound, We have Row taken the positiw of welcming ttiese vetoes because the veto helps t0 clarify tile position by mmaS&&g the false friend alld idelItifyillg the elKlIly of tile African cauSe. it alsO llclps to clarify the Imition at the maSS level h those countries tlknt IIW a record of protecting the aparthejd tigime. It facilitates our task in mobtizhg the ItlasF support 0f tile [“OplC, OUT natural al]&, in all those cauntries, bCCUZlSC iIt the ]>JI~] analysis it iS the peop]e of t]lOSC COlltltrkS Wh? Wi]] ]lC]p their leaders play a ro]e aimed at ridding tllC WWld (If t]lc Scourge of apart/&d, which fhlWttZllS plCC arId itltertl~f.iOild security. Without con- Stillt pW3SllK f~~lll tllc [X?otJte, those wt~o are convinced as f0 the urgency of a UlKItl~~ of attitude are left in a weak position. We have, huwcver 1 fW0 drtift U!SOlUfiOWi 1 hVC aooepted the proposal that the Inerrtioned s]louId be presented SOKIC tixltc in March ie order to meet the Western countries half Way LUld tu give thl the opportunity to vote in favour of limited rcsulutiofls including one which t&es the form of a measure culling Ibr tile cwsation of new investments. In tllis NStXCt, t ill11 happy tcl ]lave received assurance that the African Group will present the two draft resolutions Sony tinlc ill March. 29. TIE PIiliSlDl~N’I’: *]‘he next speaker is David Sibeko, to whom the C’ouncil cxtetlclcd an invitation at its 2056th meeting. 1 invite him to take a place at the Council table Wld LO IlliikC il StLtlelllb2ttt. 30. Mr, SIBIXI~: Mr. President, we are al] familiar with your country’s deep iovolvernent and outstanding contributions in the struggle for the total liberation of Africa. Similarly, your own personal collrmitment to this struggle during ym tong ml rlistinguistled career as a representative of the Federal Rcput~lic of Nigeria is we11 known. It is therefore an lroncrur for ,1fric:l that Nigeria has taken its place in the Security Cou~lcil and that we have you guiding the work of this august body nt tNs time. 31, [luring the 363rd rlieetitlg of the Special Committee against ~parhitf, 1 ttlt? dclcgntion of the Pan Africanist c01tgr~ss give ;L &tailtjd account of a spate of political trials under wa)p and dut to t:tkc place against Azanian Patriots mewed under the notorious Terrorisnl Act in apartheid South Africa, Wc poitltctl out ttlat tlzose trials were in gross vil)Iilti(>n of resolutions of the United Nations, that they pointed to a rapidly deteriorating situation in South Africa, and we C&J ut~ fltt2 rk2irmnn of the Special Committee to seek to COIIVCIIC’ ii ltlcetitlg of the Security Council tolook into the situation. “fllis appen] from the Pan Africmist h~grcss WAS rlladc wit11 time knowledge that the intermi0l~al comlltunity htid become im=ashdY deePlY conccrncd wit11 the situatiuJl in South Africa, especially after 32. It is well known that Fascist Premier Vorster and his cronies in the neo-Nazi National Party regime have treated these reasonable appeals with their customary contempt for the United Nations and world public opinion. Rather than heed these calls, which are a repetition of what the General Assembly and the Security Council have been demanding of South Africa for three decades, the Vorster regime is escalating its sanguinary repression. 33. As I speak to you, the sequel to the Soweto massacres, the detention of more than 5,000 people since that time, the murder of Steve Biko and scores of other detainees and the banning of 17 black consciousness organizations and a white-led antiapartheid group is the series of political trials to which I have already referred. The biggest of the Terrorism Act triais, as was stated by the Rand Daily MaiE of Johannesburg on 18 January, is a trial of 18 men who are appearing in a specially created supreme court in Bethal, a remote country town in the eastern Transvaal. In this case, the apartheid prosecution, with the acquiescence of the judge, is demonstrating a vindictiveness that surpasses that of any of the travesties that have become a norm in South Africa. On 16 January, the prosecution vigorous]y opposed a desired two-month postponement that would have enabled the defence to prepare its case properly. AS was pointed out by the defence, which is led by a junior counsel, the charge in the SO-page indictment covers a period stretching from 1963 to 1977. The locations where the offences are said to have taken place are spread far and wide and include the maximum security prison on Robben Island, where a number of the accused served time for other political “crimes”, and where it is alleged they plotted the reorganization of the Pan Africanist Congress underground cells. The prosecutor cynically claimed that it would “embarrass the State” to have a two-month adjournment because many of the 165 witnesses he would be calling were, like the accused, in detention. 34. So yesterday morning this case began, without the necessary senior counsel and without proper preparation. Defence lawyers only gained access to their clients in prison late last year. The accused in this case are mostly ordinary workers or students. It is therefore exceedingly difficult for their families, for most of whom they were the breadwinners, to raise the high fees required for senior counsel. It has been estimated that this trial, which will be a marathon one, will cost at least 20,000 rand per month. It may interest members of the Council to know that at least two of the accused’s wives are also in detention. They are Mrs. Ebeniah Mothopeng, wife of Zeph Mothopeng, the 35. The defence in the BethaI 18 case had also applied for the case to be moved to a more central place in South Africa because Bethal is a small place and it is difficult for Africans to find accommodation. Also, it would facilitate the work of the lawyers who have to come from offices 400 miles away. Some of the relatives have to come from outside the Transvaal Province, from Capetown, from East London, from the Transkei and even from Swaziland, as one of the accused, Alfred Ntshali-T&Ii, is a Swazi citizen. The defence application was denied by the judge. 36. The tactics of the prosecution confirm what we have charged and what most of the world knows about the so-called judicial system in South Africa: political trials there are a farce. Most of the accused have been in detention without trial for more than a year; they have been the subject of harsh interrogations and torturings; prosecution witnesses are held incommunicado by the security police; and the judge dismisses out of hand reasonable applications front the defence counsel. To avoid the wide attendance that accompanies political trials in South Africa, and to prevent effective media coverage, the case against Zeph Mothopeng and his fellow accused is being held in an obscure and ultra-conservative Boer town. 37. In a unique display of callousness and a spirit of vendetta, amongst the 86 people named as co-conspirators in this case, the prosecution has placed four who were obviously tortured to death whilst under detention. These are Dr. Naboth Ntshuntsha, Aaron Khoza, Samuel Malinga and Bonaventura Malaza, who was only 18 years of age when he was killed. Mangaliso Sobukwe, mentioned in the charge sheet as “the general leader of the Pan Africanist Congress”, and Potlako K. Leballo, mentioned as “Sobukwe’s second-in-command”, top the list of 86 coconspirators who are not appearing in court. 38. Other cases against people charged with furthering the Pan Africanist Congress’ aim of wanting to overthrow the South African apartheid regime through violence are either under way or coming up at Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Johannesburg, East London and Umtata. From among the thousands who are detained we are informed that more will be charged. Those charged and now appearing could face the death sentence when convicted under the Terrorism Act. From the experience of the famous SAS0 nine trial, we know that, even if defence lawyers fight the case successfully, the security police can re-detain their clients and bring them back to court using the same evidence. 39. We submit that our argument proving that these political trials are a farce and a travesty is well substantiated. Considering the countless warnings South Africa has been given by the Security Council and by the General Assembly, we contend that it would be futile to crown this debate with routine condemnations. Last year the Council finally came around to what had been called for 14 years before. A mandatory arms embargo was imposed on 40. We are calling for the immediate imposition of total economic sanctions, under Chapter VII of the Charter, against the South African apartheid r&me. Those who do not agree that the Azanian people and their national liberation movement must use revolutionary violence to liquidate the reactionary violence of apartheid colonialism, however much they agree with the justness of our cause, as they say, cannot be allowed to hide behind high-sounding condemnations or impotent embargoes, To refuse to use the one non-violent tactic-economic sanctions-that can have the greatest effect in supporting our just struggle, is to open themselves to the legitimate charge of hypocrisy and double talk. 41. I want to repeat that political trials in South Africa are a farce. But they cannot be treated lightly because they are used for very sinister political motives. Through the trials, the Vorster regime attempts to advertise the efficiency of its gestapo police in order to intimidate the Azanian people. Even worse, the trials are used in a genocidal fashion to exterminate uncompromising Azanian leaders and other patriots, so that bantustan puppets can be imposed on the people. These trials are an integral part of the ruthless drive to make apartheid colonialism work. 42. The heroic resistance of our students and the broad masses of the people since 16 June 1976 has been a mighty blow against the upurtheid scheme of things. The massacres, detentions, tortures, banishment and trials are Vorster’s retaliation, Our people’s sacrifices have included thousands dead, thousands incarcerated, thousands banned and thousands exiled. A whole generation has been without schooling for two years at Soweto because the regime denies these children the universal education they seek. Little children have had to flee abroad to save their lives, creating an exiled community composed of some of the youngest people to flee their fatherland in living memory. 43. Writing in The Times of London, on 24 January, about those on trial who may escape the death sentence and get life imprisonment, Jon BIair reminds us that “Iife imprisonment” means “life” in South Africa, and he continues: “With the enormous rise in the prison population in the last 18 months . . . several hundred young black militant students of secondary school or university Ievel . . . will never see freedom again if the South Africans have their way.” We are asking the Security Council to help us to ensure that the South Africans will not have it their way. This is our fervent appeal. 44. Finally, Mr. President, 1 want to quote something that you wrote, in your capacity as Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, ta the International University Exchange Fund at Geneva: 45. The courage of our compatriots cannot be overemphasized, and I have spelled out the needs of the present situation in so far as concerns the Council. I want to conclude by informing members of the Council and the world at large that we are sustaining severe and deep wounds as a result of apartheid oppression and imperialist exploitation. The pain we suffer from the oppression and exploitation is bound to last beyond the inevitable date of liberation in Azania. At that time we shall not forget who armed our enemy to inflict the wounds on us, just as we shall never forget those who armed us so that we could stop the assaults of apartheid colonialism. 46. Mr, RAMPHUL (Mauritius): On behalf of the African members of the Council, I should like to introduce for the Council’s consideration two draft resolutions sponsored jointly by the three African members-Gabon, Mauritius and Nigeria-and circulated in documents S/12547 and S/ 12548. In submitting these draft resolutions, the sponsors are fully cognizant of some uneasiness on the part of certain delegations here over the fact that the present series of debates on the subject on our agenda perhaps do not offer the most propitious moment for putting these drafts to the vote. In view of the deteriorating situation in South Africa and of the intransigence of the minority racist rdgime in that country, my delegation feels nothing but sorrowful disappointment at yet another exhibition of hesitancy to take decisive, albeit belated, action on the matter. In the circumstances, the sponsors, after consultations with the non-aligned members of the Council, will, in a spirit of co-operation and in a hopeful search for unanimity, consider accommodating those delegations at the present time. 47. Nevertheless, for reasons that will become clear in due course, I shall proceed to explain the main provisions of the draft resolutions-an exercise which is hardly necessary, when we remember that a little over 10 months ago I had the duty of introducing four similar draft resolutions in the Council and that since then the Council has adopted two resolutions on the question of South Africa. Can anyone in all conscience claim thereafter that the provisions of the present draft resolutions are ambiguous, unclear or unrelsonable? However, in the two draft resolutions before the Council, the sponsors are requesting the Council to recall its resolutions 417 (1977) and 418 (1977) and to take note of resolution 32/105 adopted by the General Assembly on 14 and 16 December 1977. In draft resolution S/12.547, we are also asking the Council to take into consideration the letter dated 19 January 1978 addressed to the Secretary-General by the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid and circulated in document S/ 12536. In the same draft resolution, it is only proper that the Council should express its grave concern at the continued violence and brutal repression exercised by the minority racist rdgime of South Africa against black people and all opponents of apartheid, the intensified series of arbitrary trials under the rigime’s racist and repressive laws 48. Consequently, we are requesting the Council to adopt this draft resolution containing seven operative paragraphs at an appropriate time, as soon as possible. In paragr#aph 1, the Council would merely reaffirm its resolutions 417 (1977) and 418 (1977), and in paragraphs 2,3 and 4 it would merely refer to matters already enunciated .in the preambular paragraphs. Noting that the subject matter of those preambular paragraphs is already contained in the preambular paragraphs of the two resolutions adopted most recently on the question by the Council, the sponsors believe that no delegation could possibly find great difficulty with the operative paragraphs based on them. Paragraph 5 contains a restatement of some of the demands contained in paragraph 3 of resolution 417 (1977), but WC feel that the Council should also demand the termination of all political trials in the country. We also believe that the Council should meet at an early date to reconsider the whole question, and the date of 21 March 1978 suggested in paragraph 6 appears to us to offer a reasonable amount of time for the regime in South Africa to respond to the demands and requests that are being addressed to it, ias well as for those engaged in a dialogue with the rdgime to conclude their present d&marches or manoeuvres with the leaders of that rigime. Paragraph 7 is clear and selfexplanatory. 49. In draft resolution S/12548, we are requesting the Council to take decisive measures under Chapter VII of the Charter. There is nothing new or alarming in this. The Council has already so acted in adopting resolution 418 (1977) and the situation in South Africa has not changed for the better since then; indeed, it ha:s only deteriorated. But the provisions of this draft resolution will give the Council an opportunity to strike at the sensitive centre that encourages the racist regime in South Africa to ignore the decisions of the Council, to flout international public opinion and to frustrate the aspirations of the majority of that country-namely, the economic bastion that is increasing by virtue of the foreign loans, foreign investments and foreign trade upon which it feeds. We are calling for a prohibition of the various aspects of that economic co-operation. In operative paragraph 2, the Council would merely urge all States to reconsider all their existing economic and other relations with South .Africa. The aim here is to give such countries an opportunity to take stock of their economic involvement in South Africa and prepare alternative channels, so that, if the occasion should come to respond to a total severance of that involvement-which some of us hope that the leaders of South Africa will be sensible enough not to let happen-no time would be lost in making the necessary adjustments. Operative paragraph 3 is, again, clear and straightforward. 50. Those, then, are the major provisions of the twia draft resolutions which the African members have put before the Council for consideration, But lest any pedantic observer should wonder why, if we are not pressing them to a vote today, we should go through the exercise of introducing them formally, I wish to stress that in so doing we arc 51. With those few words I wish, on behalf of the African members, to request the Council to take note of the draft resolutions now before it for the purpose of appropriate action on them in the near future.

As it appears that this will be the Iast meeting of the Security Council that will take place during my presidency for the month of January, I should like to say a few words in my capacity as the representative of NIGERIA. 53. In his statement of 26 January/2056th meeting/, the Commissioner for External Affairs of Nigeria, Mr. Joseph Garba, dealt fully with the challenge posed to the United Nations by the situation in South Africa, Namibia and Rhodesia, and expounded the position of the Federal Government of Nigeria. 54. We listened to Donald Woods in this chamber (ibid../ and we heard him say that the Pretoria regime considered the deliberations of the Security Council as a joke, and the representative of India posed the question: Who are the jokers? 5.5, I believe that there were diminishing returns in the arms market in South Africa, so we got to the stage of having a resolution calling for a mandatory arms embargo. An inability to take action against the transnationals in their greed for profit at whatever cost to humanity and at whatever level of degradation of human values obviously is the obstacle that we are faced with in going further in our task of pressuring the regime in South Africa to change. 56. We should like to warn that a continuation of the killings in South Africa and of the hangings of patriots will not only aggravate the situation but will lead to a very serious train of repercussions. Meanwhile, the apartheid regime has defiantly refused to abolish the “Bantu education” system; many schools in African locations are empty as the result of resignations by the teachers and a boycott by the pupils. The apartheid rdgime has proclaimed the so-called independence of yet another bantustan in the face 57. In aI] three territories in southern Africa that have come under the shackles of the Pretoria regime, the racists have frantically attempted to impose so-called solutions that would preserve racist domination and deprive the struggling peoples of those countries of their inalienable right to dismantle the structures of apartheid, racism and colonialism and to build new societies based on the principles of human equality. 58. In Rhodesia, there is the farce of a so-called internal settlement sponsored by the illegal regime which continues to survive thanks to the equivocation of the administering Power and the inability of the Council to take further action. 59. In Namibia, the illegal occupying Power seeks to determine the process of self-determination. 60. In South Africa, the apartheid regime seeks to consolidate racist domination by the imposition of bantu. stanization and to exclude the African majority from any semblance of power. 61. In the past year, the African States have shown their preference for peaceful and just solutions by welcoming the initiatives taken by Western Powers to find negotiated solutions. We have said many times that the Western Powers, which have reinforced racist domination in southern Africa, have the capacity to prevent a wider conflict if they are willing to take effective measures against the racist regimes. One member of the Council did c&l yesterday for some initiative in this matter. But any negotiated solutions must be entirely within the framework of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations. 62. Africa, which has suffered occupation as a result of a combination of chicanery and military power, will remain vigilant to see that the struggling peoples of southern Africa are not deprived eternally of the fruits of their struggle by racist manoeuvres, There can be no peace and no lasting settlement unless the people attain their right to genuine self-determination in accordance with United Nations resolutions, and Africa will not back any move that is not based on this premise. 63. The African States have requested the Security Council to consider again the question of South Africa because of the defiance by the apartheid regime of the resolutions adopted unanimously on 31 October and 4 November 1977. The facts are very clear. The apartheid regime has further increased repression and killed many peacefuI demonstrators against apartheid. It has killed more political 64. The Council cannot go on with the practice of merely condemning the crimes of that r&me, thereby giving it time to continue committing those crimes and to proceed with its diabolical plans for bantustanization, which we observed only a few weeks ago. 65. The African States indicated that resolution 418 (1977) calling for an arms embargo would be significant only as a first step in a programme of sanctions. In the draft resolutions introduced today by the representative of Mauritius (S/12.547 and S/12548], the African States have proposed that, as a further step, the Security Council shodd take mandatory action to stop further investments in South Africa. In its resolution 32/105 0 of 16 December 1977, the General Assembly decided, without a negative vote and with the abstentions of only the five Western members of the Council, that foreign investments in South Africa “abet and encourage the apartheid policies” of South Africa. It declared its conviction that a cessation of new foreign investments would constitute an important step in the strugg’le against apartheid. 66. My delegation would like to emphasize that foreign investment and loans finance the military, repressive apparatus in South Africa and facilitate the arms build-up by the apartheid dgime. We all know that to be the truth. There is a clear correlation between the escalating military budget of the Pretoria regime and the flow of funds to South Africa. I do not want to go into statistics; we have heard this again and again. 67. The very minimum that the Security Council should do is to stop all investments in and loans to South Africa which abet and encourage the apartheid regime in its criminal policies and provide it with weapons for murder in both South Africa and neighbouring African countries, as well as in the hostage countries of Rhodesia and Namibia. 68. We note that there has been some removal of investments from South Africa in 1977, but several transnational corporations continue to increase their involvement in that country. The Ford Motor Company is one example. I do not want to go into details about the shock that that gave us a few days ago. No wonder that the Johannesburg Radio boasted on 19 January that South Africa had learnt to disregard world opinion, because American and other businessmen were expanding their operations in South Africa. They meant Ford and some other transnationals-examples of recent developments and promises of further deveropments for reinforcing investments in South Africa. 69. During this debate, we heard an appeal by Mr. Donald Woods for effective economic sanctions against South Africa. Reports from that country indicate that even the black leaders in the apartheid institutions have found it imperative to appeal for economic sanctions by the 70. The Western Powers have not hestitated to impose economic sanctions against other countries. We talk about chicanery when it comes to others. We do not even consider the economic sanctions that have been imposed and some being considered by the United States Congress for imposition against certain African countries--because of one leader. The same values are not being extended to South Africa, where there is a system iuld where only the whites benefit from that system. For the Western Powers 1:o find excuses constantly to resist economic sanctions against South Africa would hardly be honest or consistent with their professions. Think of coffee. Think of Uganda. 71. We are therefore very disappointed that the Western Powers, except for Canada, which has taken sonte fl3rward steps-obviously I mean the four Western Powers-have so far even refrained from participating in this debate. 72. The initiatives of the Western Powers have been dangled in our faces time and again. We are told about the strategy of tile carrot and the stick. The “carrot” has been used too often and for too long, but the “stick” has been forgotten. I am in duty bound to strike a note of warning. 73. One peace talk or another should not be allowed to delay meaningful international action against racist rtigimes, for that is the “stick”. We are told of pressures to bring down Ian Smith, but nobody has mentioned that in the context of these talks. We are trying to bring do’wn the Rhodesian military operation. Peace talks should not be used to provide more time to the racist r6gimes to consolidate their positions. 74. I have been most reluctant to appear to be taking advantage of being in the Chair, I could have spoken as a member from the other end of the horse-shoe table. None the less, I crave representatives’ indulgence to make Sony observations in respect of Rhodesia, which is directly linked, as we all know, with the question of South Africa. 75. It is now common knowledge that the racist r6gime at Pretoria has, more than any other element, constituted the channel for the biggest leak in the mandatory sanctions imposed by this body on Rhodesia. Worse still, i;t is the racists who have provided the oil for Smith’s Mirage aircraft and fighter bombers which barely a month ago caused widespread destruction of human lives and property deep inside Mozambique, an independent sovereign State Member of the United Nations, in flagrant violation of the sacred principles of the Charter. That is not an IIsolated incident; there have been continuing incidents of harassment and bombardment of a poor, independent country. To that extent we therefore feel terribly depressed that, even in the face of such atrocities, the Western Powers should appear to be stalling on the question of taking 76. In Rhodesia itself, after more than one full decade of British inaction and because Zimbabwean patriots, frustrated by years of deceit, decided to take up arms and secure on the battlefield what had eluded them about eight times at the conference table, we are suddenly confronted by an interesting twist which is directly at variance with the political realities of the Rhodesian scene. We are rather puzzled by the fact that those who took up arms to fight for freedom, equality and human dignity for the generality of their people should be asked to surrender their arms and submit to the very authority which, for close to 13 years, has remained basically insensitive to the ruthless oppression they have patiently endured under a person with a notorious record of broken promises, deceit, callousness and harassment against the majority of the African population. 77. It is high time to put a stop to this charade, and I personally call on the West to assist and co-operate with the Council in one last attempt to salvage the credibility and image of the Council as mankind’s true custodian of international peace and security. Concerted steps must 78. I should like to conclude by reiterating that Nigeria, in accordance with its responsibilities as a member of the Security Council, will continue to press for international action under the aegis of the Council. 79. I now resume my role as PRESIDENT of the Council. 80. The next meeting of the Council to continue its consideration of the question of South Africa will be fixed by the President for the month of February in consultation with the other members of the Council. 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